Walter Monsour, son face ethics charges for RDA deals

BATON ROUGE - The Louisiana Board of Ethics filed conflict of interest charges Wednesday against Walter Monsour, the former head of the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority, over deals between the agency and clients represented by his son Jordan Monsour.

The board also charged Jordan Monsour as part of the same investigation, saying he represented several clients in deals with the RDA, which uses public funds to develop city properties and prevent slums or blight.

The board said Walter Monsour should have recused himself from participating in deals where his son had a financial interest, or submitted a form to the state showing he had removed himself from such deals. By failing to do so, the Board of Ethics said there's nothing to show Monsour as head of the RDA was not involved.

The board said Jordan Monsour represented Windsor/Aughtry Company, Red Stick Hospitality, Honeywell International Inc., Model Block LLC and Circa 1857 as those groups applied for development financing through the RDA. Between those groups, the Board of Ethics said Jordan Monsour made more than $283,000.

Walter Monsour resigned from his position in November 2014. He said then that without a dedicated source of funding the RDA would run out of money by the end of 2015.

The charges will now go to the Ethics Adjudicatory Board for a hearing to determine what penalties should be applied.